Sri Lanka beat England in the third Test match by eight wickets to save the whitewash in the three-Test match series played in England. The third Test match was played at the Oval where visitors needed 219 runs to win, which was achieved by batters in the first session of the fourth day. Opener Pathum Nissanka scored the second Test century of his career and gave Sri Lanka a historic victory. He remained unbeaten after scoring 127 runs. This was the fourth Test win by Sri Lanka in England.
Visitors Sri Lanka started the Day 4 with 94 runs on one wicket. Gus Atkinson helped England to get another breakthrough as he picked up Kusal Mendis's wicket who tried to smash his short ball but the ball was not connected well with the bat and got caught by Shoaib Bashir. Mendis scored 39 runs in 37 balls including 7 fours. After this, Nissanka and experienced Angelo Matthews together took charge of the innings. Both of them made an unbroken partnership of 111 runs and took the team past the target.
ALSO READ: Mayank Rawat tonks LSG's Ayush Badoni for 5 sixes in last over of innings in Delhi Premier League final; watch video
ALSO READ: 'From being troll-ed to taking full con-trol': RCB reacts to their pace trio's selection in India's Test squad for Bangladesh
Nissanka smashed a century against England in the third Test match the batter took 107 runs to complete 100 runs mark. That was Nissanka's second Test century, he smashed both of his centuries outside Sri Lanka. Earlier in March 2021, he scored his maiden Test century on the West Indies tour. Matthews played a brilliant supporting role with Nissanka. He was seen struggling a bit in the beginning but later blunted England's hopes of a comeback through solid defence. He remained unbeaten after scoring 32 runs with the help of three fours.
England scored 325 runs in the first innings at The Oval. In response, the visiting team was bowled out for 263 runs. But the Sri Lankan fast bowlers took all 10 wickets and bundled out the hosts for just 156 runs in the second innings. This gave them a target of 219 runs.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
India secures 5-1 victory over Japan, clinches second straight win in Asian Champions Trophy 2024
